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Longfin Eel is considered a single biological stock for eastern Australia, but is assessed at the jurisdictional level due to the absence of a cross-jurisdictional stock assessment. Longfin Eel is classified as sustainable in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and undefined in Queensland.

The Longfin Eel has a wide species distribution that extends the entire eastern Australian coast from Cape York to Tasmania and is also found at Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island [Beumer and Sloane 1990], and in northern New Zealand [Jellyman et al. 1996]. The Australian stock structure was investigated via a microsatellite genetic study, and the results indicated a single panmictic biological stock along the east coast [Shen and Tzeng 2007]. However, there is currently no cross-jurisdictional stock assessment undertaken for the shared stock, so this assessment of stock status is presented at the jurisdictional level—New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria

New South Wales

The Longfin Eel is a slow growing species that takes up to 22 years for males and 52 years for females to reach sexual maturity. In Australia, it mainly inhabits the lower reaches and tidal areas of rivers east of the Great Dividing Range until sexual maturity, and then migrates into the deep tropical ocean waters east of the Coral Sea to spawn once before dying [Pusey et al. 2004]. This life history strategy can make eels particularly vulnerable to recruitment overfishing [Hoyle and Jellyman 2002]. The New South Wales commercial fishery targets the fully pigmented sub-adults or 'yellow eels' that return to the estuaries and does not permit fishing on adult eels upstream of tidal waters. A minimum size limit of 300 mm total length (TL) for Longfin Eel was introduced in 1997 and later increased to 580 mm TL in 2007. Some historical catches of juvenile 'glass eels' (40–70 mm TL) and undersized 'yellow eels' (300–580 mm TL) were permitted from estuarine tidal waters for aquaculture seed stock and grow-out between 1995 and 2010 [Pease 2004]. Permitted quantities were highly restricted, with total catches of less than 300 kg of 'glass eels' per year (undersized 'yellow eel' catches were included in commercial catch statistics) and aquaculture production of eels in New South Wales ceased in 2014–15. 

Most of the New South Wales commercial catch is taken by eel trapping in the Estuary General Fishery, with seven main estuaries on average accounting for 73% of the catch [Hall 2020]. Commercial catches of Longfin Eel rapidly increased in the early 1990s to a peak of 167 tonnes (t) in 2000–01 and then remained at around 80 t until 2014–15. Over the last six years the export market for live eels decreased and processing facilities in NSW closed. As a result catches decreased rapidly and the total commercial catch in 2021–22 was 14.2 t. 

Historical standardised catch rates for eel trapping (in kg per days fished) from monthly records declined by over 50% during the 1990s, increased back toward the long-term average (25 kg per days fished) during the 2000s [Hall 2020] Recent standardised daily catch rates (in kg per trap) suggest further declines occurred during the early 2010s, but over the last 6 years catch rates have fluctuated around the long-term average (4.8 kg per trap) and indicate a more stable trend [Hall 2023]. An interim total commercial access level (ITCAL) of 137 t was introduced in New South Wales in 2017 and will transition to an adjustable total allowable commercial catch (TACC) in 2024. Current harvests are well below the ITCAL and a more comprehensive stock assessment is planned prior to the transition to support determination of an appropriate catch limit.

Recreational harvests of freshwater eels (of combined species) are estimated to be small in New South Wales, with the most recent estimate of approximately 2,605 eels during 2019–20, although an additional 7,369 eels were caught and released [Murphy et al. 2022]. These estimates were based on a survey of Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL) Households, comprised of at least one fisher possessing a long-term (1 or 3 years duration) fishing licence and any other fishers resident within their household. The equivalent estimates from previous surveys in 2017–18 and 2013–14 were 2,955 and 1,024 eels, with an additional 8,744 and 16,479 eels caught and released, respectively [Murphy et al. 2020]. A survey of Aboriginal cultural fishing in the Tweed River catchment identified freshwater eels as one of the main components of freshwater catches [Schnierer and Egan 2016]; however, statewide estimates of the annual Aboriginal harvest of eels in New South Wales waters are unknown but likely to be significant.

While the data from the commercial fishery suggest that some reduction in biomass has occurred historically, and a more detailed stock assessment is warranted before a TACC is introduced in 2024, overall the above evidence indicates that the biomass of the stock is unlikely to be depleted and that recruitment is unlikely to be impaired. Additionally, current fishing effort is a fraction of past levels (169 days fished in 2020–21 compared with 1,880 in 2014–15 and 6 721 in 2001–02) [Hall 2023]. This is providing a temporary hiatus, and the current level of fishing mortality is considered unlikely to cause the stock to become recruitment impaired.  On the basis of this evidence, the New South Wales part of the stock is currently classified as a sustainable stock.

[Walsh et al. 2003, 2004]

Distribution of catches of Longfin Eel.

New South Wales – Commercial (Catch). Data are provided in financial years.

New South Wales – Recreational (Catch). Estimate from Murphy et al. [2020, 2022], based on a survey of Recreational Fishing Licence households. Note, estimates for eels are highly uncertain, with a relative standard error of greater than 30% and based on survey data from fewer than 20 households.

New South Wales – Indigenous (Management Methods). https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aboriginal-fishing)

Queensland – Indigenous (Management Methods). For more information see: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/traditional-fishing

Queensland – Commercial (Catch). Queensland commercial and charter data have been sourced from the commercial fisheries logbook program. Further information available through the Queensland Fisheries Summary Report https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/monitoring-research/data/queensland-fisheries-summary-report

Victoria – Indigenous (Management Methods). A person who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is exempt from the need to obtain a Victorian recreational fishing licence, provided they comply with all other rules that apply to recreational fishers, including rules on equipment, catch limits, size limits and restricted areas. Traditional (non-commercial) fishing activities that are carried out by members of a traditional owner group entity under an agreement pursuant to Victoria’s Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 are also exempt from the need to hold a recreational fishing licence, subject to any conditions outlined in the agreement. Native title holders are also exempt from the need to obtain a recreational fishing licence under the provisions of the Commonwealth’s Native Title Act 1993.

Tasmania - Recreational (Management Methods). In Tasmania, an angling licence is required to take eels. There is a 12 fish daily bag limit for eels with a minimum size of 300 mm and a possession limit of 24 eels at any one time [IFS 2018].
Tasmania - Indigenous (Management Methods). In Tasmania, Indigenous persons engaged in traditional fishing activities in marine waters are exempt from holding recreational fishing licences, but must comply with all other fisheries rules as if they were licensed. For details, see the policy document 'Recognition of Aboriginal Fishing Activities” (https://fishing.tas.gov.au/Documents/Policy%20for%20Aboriginal%20tags%20and%20alloting%20an%20UIC.pdf).

Commercial catches of Longfin Eel.

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